I Can Imagine A Future In Which

Places Like Hilton Head, With Water Adjacency And Nice Climates, Are In High Demand, And Land Values Are Insane. In The Case Of Hilton Head, Which Was Developed In 1970 On What Had Been A Mosquito- And Alligator-infested Swampy Barrier Island, Land Value Has Leaped From Nearly Zero To Now Unaffordable.

Now We're E-mailing And Tweeting And Texting So Much, A Phone Call Comes As A Fresh Surprise. I Get Text Messages On My Cell Phone All Day Long, And It Warbles To Alert Me That Someone Has Sent Me A Message On Facebook Or A Reply Or Direct Message On Twitter, But It Rarely Ever Rings.

I Have No Idea How To Get In Touch With Anyone Anymore. Everyone, It Seems, Has A Home Phone, A Cell Phone, A Regular E-mail Account, A Facebook Account, A Twitter Account, And A Web Site. Some Of Them Also Have A Google Voice Number. There Are The Sentimental Few Who Still Have Fax Machines.

I Remember, When I Was A Kid, Watching My Mother Jam Herself Into Her Girdle - A Piece Of Equipment So Rigid It Could Stand Up On Its Own - And I Remember Her Coming Home From Fancy Parties And Racing Upstairs To Extricate Herself From Its Cruel Iron Grip.

I've Used Twitter Now And Again To Try To Figure Something Out; It's An Amazing Resource. But I Think You Have To Use It Judiciously: It's A Self-selected Group, So It's Important Not To Start Thinking Of It As The Whole World.